Page 56 of Devoured By You
Grinning, he carried me toward the stairs that led to the upper level, when his phone rang. He grimaced. “Sorry, I told my staff I wasn’t to be disturbed unless it was urgent.”
“Then it must be urgent.” I waited for him to put me down and go answer his phone, which he’d left on the side before we’d gone out to the pool. “Make sure it’s not a video call.” I pointed my chin at his semi-hard dick.
He grinned, but his smile fell when he looked at his phone. “Goddamn, what the fuck does she want now?”
“Who?”
“Scarlett ‘Diva’ Rose.”
He answered it, transforming from playful lover to pissed-off CEO in the time it took me to blink.
“Miss Rose, what can I do for you?”
He listened intently, his eyes hardening in response to whatever she was saying. God, I hoped this wasn’t bad. He had more than enough on his overflowing plate, and from what he’d told me about Scarlett, she appeared to have the ability to turn a minor gripe into a major catastrophe for him.
“I’ll have someone come by your penthouse.” He shifted his weight. “No, I’m afraid I can’t do that. I’m otherwise engaged.” His eyes drifted over to me.
I mouthed, “We can go.”
His lips flattened to a thin line, and he shook his head vigorously. “I understand that, and of course you’re one of my most important customers, but I’m not on the ship right now. I—”
He stopped talking. She must have interrupted him. I couldn’t make out a single word, but there was an undeniable increase in the volume and speed of her voice.
I should dress. He had more important things to deal with. I headed toward the pool, where I’d left my beach bag. Blay snapped out a hand as I passed. He wrapped his free arm around my waist, holding me against him, my back to his front.
“I’ll have someone come to see you immediately, and I will stop by when I return to the ship later. I’m afraid that’s the best I can do.” He dropped a kiss on my shoulder. “Goodbye.”
I twisted in his arms, grimacing. “It’s fine if you want to go back. She’s important to your business.”
He snorted. “Not nearly as important as she thinks she is. And I have no intention of returning to the ship early. If it were a real issue, I’d have already called Miguel and had him come pick us up, but it’s nothing. Just Scarlett being her usual overbearing and demanding self. She needs to understand that I am not her personal fucking servant.” He tapped out a message, hit Send, and then tossed his phone onto the kitchen counter.
“I couldn’t stand having to be nice to people like that all the time. I don’t know how you do it.”
“With great difficulty. But Scarlett has spent most of her life surrounded by sycophants, and she isn’t used to people standing up to her. I mean, the woman tossed her husband to the side as soon as he’d outlived his usefulness.”
“He was her manager, too, right?” I vaguely recalled reading something about it online, although I couldn’t count myself among the gossip lovers. I left that to Addison, who hoovered up celebrity shit like it was her favorite flavor of ice cream.
“Yeah. That’s how they met. Ten or eleven years ago, if I recall the briefing my team gave me about her.”
“Your team briefed you about her?”
“They briefed me about every one of our penthouse guests. As the CEO, I’m expected to know these kinds of details in case they’re pertinent.”
“Wow.”
His eyes lowered to my boobs pressed against his chest. “Let’s forget about prima donna celebrities. We have much more important things to do.”
“Yeah? Like what?” I teased.
He caught my bottom lip between his teeth. “Each other.”
Chapter 21
Blaize
What a goddamn nightmare.
Miguel turned the golf cart onto the quayside, giving me a perfect view of Serenity’s majesty rising from the gentle swell of the Atlantic Ocean. Pride inflated my chest. I rarely stopped to celebrate successes, always with one eye on the horizon looking for the next thing to make leaving a warm bed in the morning worthwhile.